On 10 December, President of Latvia Egils Levits met with Minister for Education and Science Anita Muižniece in the Riga Castle to discuss sector’s this year’s performance and future priorities.
Minister Muižniece praised historically largest research allocation in the 2022 budget, and significant baseline increase for education compared to recent years. President of Latvia also hailed the decision to increase public funding for science. As a modern and mature 21st-century state, Latvia must pursue ambitious research agenda, ensuring adequate annual budget allocations for research activities, technological innovations and better education.
President of Latvia and Minister for Education and Science also discussed Egils Levits’ idea to make one of the European Union languages a second foreign language for school children. ‘If you know the language, you become part of its information frameworks. We are an EU member state, and our people should primarily be integrated with European ideas, discourse and knowledge frameworks. Language also strongly determines our understanding of the geopolitical context around us. We create the future of our country today, and sometimes you have to be bold to achieve certain goals in the long run,’ President Levits said. Minister Muižniece agreed with President Levits’ opinion and underlined that strategic shifts of this kind need to be implemented gradually.
Minister also presented most recent data on the school network reform, including a model developed by Ministry of Education and Science for more efficient management of general education funding together with local governments.
Both officials also exchanged views on shortage of teachers, boosting prestige and competitiveness of teaching and university/higher education councils.